Type 2 Diabetes

Diabetes is a life-long disease that affects the way our body handles glucose, a kind of sugar, in your blood. Most people with diabetes have type 2. There are about 27 million people in the U.S. with it. In this condition, cells cannot use blood sugar efficiently for energy. This happens when the cells become insensitive to insulin and the blood sugar gradually gets too high.

Causes

Type 2 diabetes develops when the body becomes resistant to insulin or when the pancreas stops producing enough insulin. Exactly why this happens is unknown, although genetics and environmental factors, such as excess weight and inactivity, seem to be contributing factors.

In this condition, the body becomes resistant to insulin and body is no longer using the hormone efficiently. This forces your pancreas to work harder to make more insulin. Over time, this can damage cells in your pancreas. Eventually, your pancreas may not be able to produce any insulin.

If you don’t produce enough insulin or if your body doesn’t use it efficiently, glucose builds up in your bloodstream. This leaves your body’s cells starved for energy.

Symptoms

The early symptoms may include:

Constant hunger

A lack of energy

Fatigue

Weight loss

Excessive thirst

Frequent urination

Dry mouth

Itchy skin

Blurry vision

As the disease progresses, the symptoms become more severe and potentially dangerous. If your blood sugar levels have been high for a long time, the symptoms can include:

Yeast infections

Slow-healing cuts or sores

Dark patches on your skin

Foot pain

Feelings of numbness in your extremities, or neuropathy.

Women with diabetes are twice as likely to have another heart attack after the first one.

Diagnosis

A blood test is done to diagnose this condition. The blood is tested for glucose and if it is greater than 125 fasting, more than 200 when randomly tested, the diagnosis is diabetes if the fasting blood sugar is between100-125, and the person has a diagnosis of pre-diabetes. To diagnose type 2 diabetes, you will be given a:

Glycated hemoglobin (A1C) test: this blood test indicates average blood sugar level for the past two to three months. It measures the percentage of blood sugar attached to hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying protein in red blood cells.

Treatment

Management of type 2 diabetes includes:

Healthy eating

Regular exercise

Possibly, diabetes medication or insulin therapy

Blood sugar monitoring

These steps will help keep your blood sugar level closer to normal, which can delay or prevent complications.

People with type 2 diabetes needs aerobic exercise. Aim for at least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise five days of the week. Physical activity lowers blood sugar.

Monitoring blood sugar

Check and record blood sugar level every now and then or, if you’re on insulin, multiple times a day. Sometimes blood sugar levels can be unpredictable.

Diabetes medications and insulin therapy

The doctor might even combine drugs from different classes to help your blood sugar in several different ways.

Bariatric surgery

If you have type 2 diabetes and your body mass index (BMI) is greater than 35, you may be a candidate for weight-loss surgery. Blood sugar level returns to normal in 55 to 95 percent of people with diabetes, depending on the procedure performed.

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